There are a number of items which I hope Apple will address this year- some outstanding issues and some new expectations.
The first is a personal want- the cellular version of the Apple Watch in Ireland. Apple launched the cellular Watch in the Autumn, but it needs deals with the mobile phone carriers to spread this into other countries. On launch, there was a limited set of carriers involved in a handful of countries, but I hope to see this spread to new regions this Spring. It would also be good to see all carriers involved so customers have choices.
The second issue for 2018 is the Mac Pro and what Apple does in the professional space. In a sense I have divided views on this. I like the idea of Apple reclaiming their professional desktop space but will I ever buy one- probably not. So it feels like a heavy dose of hypocrisy to want Apple to build pro Macs, without seeing any reason to use one. But the idea of a Mac Pro and how it would help to boost and inform work on future iMacs is enough to allow me to hope for this.
HomePod is my third hope for 2018. Right now it feels underwhelming, a Siri based speaker. The audio working to adapt with the space in a room is clever, but to date this does not feel like a must-have product. It reminds me of the iPod HiFi speaker, but I hope it will offer more than Apple attempting to copy Amazon and Alexa. I also hope the shipping date delay is a good sign of improvements, because right now no one has asked me about this product and the sense of buzz is not there. An interesting space to watch and see where Apple are going here.
No doubt we will have the usual yearly updates to iOS and macOS too- lots to look forward to in 2018.